MAXIPIX

Maxipix

MAXIPIX is a fast readout, photon-counting pixel detector system developed by ESRF and based on the Medipix2 and Timepix readout chips developed by CERN and the Medipix2 collaboration. The system achieves up to 1.4 kHz frame rate with 290 microseconds readout dead time and has a pixel size of 55 µm. The available detection geometries are : 256x256 pixels (single chip), 512x512 pixels (2x2 chips), and 1280x256 pixels (5x1 chips). MAXIPIX was developed in order to meet the needs of ESRF beamlines for fast and/or noise-free X-ray area detectors with high spatial resolution (small pixels), in particular in XPCS, microSAXS, inelastic scattering, surface diffraction.

MAXIPIX consists of a detector head connected to a Linux acquisition workstation by a fiberoptic link. The detector head includes the detector module, an interface board with connection to the acquisition workstation, and power supplies. The interface board can drive detector modules implementing up to five Medipix2 or Timepix chips with simultaneous readout of each chip. The acquisition workstation is based on the "LIMA" software library developed by ESRF for 2D detectors control and 2D data acquisition.